Effects of dexmedetomidine on post-anesthesia recovery and postoperative cognitive dysfunction in elderly patients receiving lung resection

Liu Yufang; Liao Xingzhi; Wu Wenhua

doi:10.3760/cma.j.issn.1673-4777.2014.07.012

Abstract：Objective To investigate the effects of dexmedetomidine on the quality of post-anesthesia recovery and postrperativecognitive dysfunction in elderly patients after lung resection.Methods Fifty elderly patients had lung resection.American Society of Anesthesiologists Ⅰ-Ⅱ and intravenous anesthesia combined with inhalation anesthesia were randomly divided into study group and control group according to the random number table,with 25 cases in each group.Dexmedetomidine 1 μg/kg was infused within 20 min before induction in study group,then it was adjusted to the rate of 0.3 μg/(kg · h) after induction.The infusion of dexmedetomidine was stopped 30 min before surgery completed.The control group received intravenous infusion of saline.The quality of post-anesthesia recovery and postoperative cognitive dysfunction were observed in two groups.Results The scores of cough and agitation in study group were significantly lower than those in the control group [(2.4 ± 0.7) scores vs (2.8 ± 0.7) scores,(1.6 ± 0.5) scores vs (2.0 ± 0.6) scores,P ＜ 0.05].There were no significantly differences in breathing recovery time,extubation time and recovery time in two goups(P ＞ 0.05).There was no significant difference in Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score in two groups before surgery and postoperative 48 h(P ＞0.05).MMSE scores at 12 h,24 h after operation in study group were significantly higher than those in control group [(25.9 ± 1.2) scores vs (24.2 ± 1.3) scores and (28.0 ± 0.8) scores vs (26.7 ± 1.0) scores,P ＜0.05].Conclusion Dexmedetomidine can significantly improve the quality of post-anesthesia recovery and early postoperative cognitive dysfunction.